United States – The House Speaker, Chuck Schumer, immediately on Monday began to make preparations for a vote on the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, which seeks to codify the rights provided in the Roe v. Wade ruling and allow women access to abortion before the third term of pregnancy.
The Senate deliberations precede the third such bill this month to safeguard women’s rights to reproductive healthcare, including the Right to Contraception Act and the Right to IVF Act. Republicans blocked both measures, as reported by The Hills.
Schumer’s Announcement
“A few moments ago, I took the first procedural step to place on the legislative calendar the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act, cosponsored by Sen. Murray and myself and cosponsored by all the women senators on the Democratic side,” Schumer announced on the Senate floor.
“This calls for enshrining the protections of Roe v. Wade into law,” he said.
Senate Schedule
It will occur next month, as the Senate will be closed during the last week of June and the first week of July due to a two-week break. The senators were not working Wednesday regarding Juneteenth, and they are also likely to be away from work on Thursday.
Schumer criticized Republicans for filibustering the two bills in the past two weeks to preserve abortion rights and IVF services.
“In the last two weeks, Senate Republicans have shown for all their attempts to sound moderate on reproductive freedom, when it comes to [a] vote, they’re falling in line with MAGA extremists,” he said. “This month, Senate Republicans have already blocked legislation protecting commonsense reproductive care like contraception and IVF.”
GOP Response
As for two bills Democrats offered, one was on contraceptives and the other on IVF. Republicans said that the bills were drafted too broadly and they could not agree with “poison pill” provisions.
Republican senators insist that they have no opposition to birth control and IVF while labeling their Democratic colleagues as bearers of fabulous dangers and imminent attempts at stripping Americans of their rights to healthcare.
Still, referring to a provision in the House’s annual defense authorization bill that just passed and former President Trump’s comments to GOP senators last week, Schumer argued that the threat to women’s reproductive rights is real, as reported by The Hills.
“House Republicans voted overwhelmingly on Friday to pass the defense funding bill with hard-right poison pills restricting access to reproductive care for our service members,” he said. “And Donald Trump, while speaking to Republicans on Capitol Hill last week, attacked the decision of Roe and said abortion should be left to the states, even if states pass terrible restrictions on women’s freedoms.”